Just Saying Hello

The challenge at Jitterbuggin  is to create a card that brings a little sunshine to these dreary winter days.  We had to include the color yellow, a cricut cut, and some stripes.  I used A Child's Year for the ovals, George for the rectangles, and Cindy Loo for the layered flower and sentiment.  Diamond in the Rough and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folders were used for the embossing and VersaMagic Chalk Ink to add a little more depth.
I'll be sending this card out for one of our Card Fairy missions.

This weekend, I used my Gypsy to design 5 challenge cards.  Hopefully, I'll get them all cut and assembled so that I can share them with you later in the week.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

It's Party Time!

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday.  Since we can't have a party for her - she's in Texas, we're in California - I sent her Monique Griffith's Sweet Treats Party.  If you haven't seen Monique's kits you really should take a look.  She has amazing double page layouts and other fun, fun kits.  She provides easy-to-follow directions complete with pictures and her kits include all the papers and embellishments needed.  Most kits are created using only one Cricut cartridge.  You can see her fantastic work  here.  If you happen to live in northern California, she offers classes and crops in her home, too.

I laid out all the cuts using my Gypsy.  I used one Gypsy layer for each paper used in the kit. After all the cutting was completed, I began assembling and this is the result:  a party invitation, a birthday card, a goodie box, a cupcake holder (Aly will have to provide her own cupcake - didn't think that would ship well), and a centerpiece.  I plan on using the centerpiece idea again and I think the ice cream cone goodie box is adorable!  Everything was cut using the Sweet Treats cartridge.

Well, that's it for all the projects I completed last weekend.  Now I want to finish some Card Fairy missions and then I have a few Valentine ideas to work on and the next project for my Guest Designer spot at Sketches in Thyme.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Birthday Card for a Special Lady

We have a very special friend who will be celebrating her birthday on January 30.  This wonderful lady provided the funding to build the softball field and stadium and the University of Illinois where my youngest daughter played on the first scholarship team (2000-2004).  Janna (my daughter) remains very close to her and will be with her to celebrate her special day.  She loves her cats so I thought this would be the perfect card.

I used Nifty Fifties for the cat and shaped background.  I chose the orange and blue color scheme because this darling lady truly bleeds the Illini Orange and Blue!  The sentiment is a combination cut from Create a Critter (purrfect and birthday) and Songbird (have - welded on the Gypsy - and a).  The blue paper was already embossed so I popped the cat for a just a little more dimension and then added some gems.

Tomorrow I'll post the last of my weekend projects; the Sweet Treats Party kit (kit created by Monique Griffith).

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Notecard Set

Here's the next project I completed this past weekend.  My daughter wanted some more personalized notecards (I had made her several sets in the past) so I thought it would be fun to send them to her in their own "bag".  The cards are A2 size. The "a" is from Don Juan using the Under Pressure feature and cut at 2".  Since there isn't a shadow feature for this cut, I created one using my Gypsy.  I used Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More for the bag.  I used a 12 x 24 mat and enlarged the cut all the way to the borders on my Gypsy so I could make it as large as possible.  The tag was made using Nestabilities and then I welded the name using the Songbird cartridge on my Gypsy.  I just added some paper layers to the bag and a few gems here and there.  20 cards fit inside.  Although they overlapped somewhat, there was still room without the bag falling over.

Tomorrow I'll share another weekend project.  Until then,

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

A Weekend Full of Projects!

I started scrapping Friday night at Monique Griffith's crop and continued at home all day Saturday and Sunday.   Whew, I had so many ideas and projects - I just kept going and going like the Energizer Bunny.
To begin with, my daughter requested some Valentine cards that she could send out and also an altered composition book for the other assistant coach who is also her workout partner and good friend.  I think they're using the books for their food and workout journals.  I'll share these today.

The "love" hearts were cut from Paper Pups.  I added a gem to the O.   I used Lyrical Letter to cut the name on the composition book.

Stay tuned for more.  I have a notecard set with a cute holder, a birthday card made from Nifty Fifties, and a Sweet Treats Party set - a kit designed by Monique Griffith.  They will all be posted this week. 

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Birthday Card with a Story Behind It

Happy Friday, Everyone.  I'm sharing my daughter's birthday card with you today.  I'll be mailing it on Monday along with a few more goodies that I'll be completing at tonight's crop.  Two years ago, when I met up with her while she was out on a recruiting trip in Southern CA, we went to several scrapbook stores in the area.  At first she just sat and waited while I explored the stores.  I suggested she look around and maybe pick out a few papers that she liked.  Well, she really got into it and the "few" turned into piles of papers!!  She discovered she had the same love (addiction?) for paper as her mother - yikes!  Anyway, I made this card using some of the papers she picked out on that trip.   I wonder if she'll recognize them - hmmmmmmmm?

The card is simple - the paper itself is the focal point.  I used punches for the tag - round and scalloped, some organdy ribbon and a stamped sentiment.

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Cards Using Two of My Newest Cartridges

I used two more of my new cartridges to make these cards.  The first one is for a kindergartner who recently had surgery to repair a cleft palate.  I thought a visit from Nemo might cheer him up so I used Best of Pixar.  Nemo and the layers were cut at 2.75".  I sometimes shy away from cartridges that have lots of layers and tiny pieces, but this one came together quite easily. The sentiment was cut from Wild Card. 

I used Rock Princess for the second card.  Tween-agers are so into skeletons and I thought this little lady was especially cute with her heart eyes and bow.  I  liked the font for the sentiment - also from Rock Princess.

Wow!  Getting this posted has been tricky.  We've had two power outages in the last 3 hours!  We don't know what happened - the weather is clear - but there were outages all over our area.  I've reset all the clocks, digital frames, coffee makers, satellite, etc., for the second time, so I hope it that's the end of it.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Tuesday Takes #8

This is my entry for Sketches in Thyme - Tuesday Takes #8 card challenge.  I love the Bo Bunny back to back Dot papers.  When my Local Scrapbook Store (LSS) closed, I bought all that they had.  I used the pale pink on this card.  I also used the MS Punch Around the Page Loopy Hearts punch - on sale at M's for $10 off!   I didn't use the corner punch because I wanted the punched piece to be smaller.  The X and O brads are from my stash and the flowers I got on a recent visit to Green Tangerines - a LSS in Rocklin, CA.  The flowers are "e." brand - a Prima Company, but the embellishments are not quite as expensive - woohoo.
The dotted ribbon is from JoAnn's - hmmmm, guess I have a thing for dots today :).

Hope your week is off to a great start.  I'm pulling together projects to take to Monique Griffith's crop on Friday night.  It's always a good time at her house!  Be sure to visit her newly updated blog:

http://www.monkeydoodlecricut.blogspot.com/.

She has some wonderful new project kits available created by her and her new design team.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

from Mother's Day Bouquet

Here is another card for Raq's Challenge.  I'm sure you'll recognize the paper, it's the same as yesterday.  I really love pinks and purples.  The flower is from the new Mother's Day Bouquet seasonal cartridge.  This cart has all your flower cuts in one place and they all coordinate together very well.  I cut the same flower 5 times beginning at 3" and decreasing a quarter inch for each cut.  The center is one of those create your own brads from Stampin UP (can't remember what it's called).  The flourishes are foil embossed stickers from Forever in Time that I picked up at the Scrapbook Expo.  I rolled the flower petals around the handle of my file to give them some added shape and dimension.

The only things I found at Tuesday Morning yesterday were some Cropper Hopper 12 x 12 paper files.  I'm going to move all my plain colored cardstock into them so it's separate from my patterned papers.  Right now all my papers are by color families on a rack which is way too overcrowded.  I think separating plain from patterned will make life easier.  I'm talking about individual sheets of paper, here.  I have 3 jetmax cubes and two tubs full of Stacks!!!  Oooooh, I do love my paper.

I also have to catch up on my Card Fairy missions so I'd better get to work.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Heartfelt Thanks

I designed this card for Raq's Card Challenge.  This is one of those cards where the patterned paper is the key feature.  I'm going to use the card for a Cricut Card Fairy Mission.  The patterned paper is from a pack called Flirt by Speciality Collection.  It's one of those treasures I found at Tuesday Morning for $2.99 - 18 sheets in the pack - woohoo!

All I did was layer different coordinating colors and stamp the sentiment.  I did use my I-rock to add two gems because I thought a little something more was needed. 

I have a little shopping to do today so I think I'll visit Tuesday Morning and see if I can find any more treasures.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

A Winter Wish

This week's challenge on My Sheri Crafts is to make something that represents winter where you live.  Right now, in northern California, we've had nothing but high clouds and fog for days - it's very, very dreary.  I thought of velum over gray paper, but that was just too depressing (kinda like our weather).  So, my answer was to make a card to reflect the kind of winter weather I "wish" we had instead.  Okay, those of you who live in snowy regions and are sick of it can beat me now LOL. 

The light blue paper came embossed, I just added some dabs of white Versmagic chalk ink.  All the snowflakes were punched.  I hand cut the snowman's hat, adding a band of silver glitter.  I used Divine Swirls to emboss the snow and then added a little accent of chalk and some Stickles.  I used the MS branch punch for the arms and trimmed some of the branches.  My BFF gave me the idea to use buttons for the snowman's head and body :), and the sentiment was sized on the Gypsy and cut from the Stamping cartridge.

Thanks for visiting.  I love reading your comments - they definitely help to fight the blahs brought on by dreary days.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

Valentines for Soldiers

As I've mentioned many times, I participate in the Cards for Soldiers group on the Cricut messageboard.  Here is a sample of the Valentine cards I am sending.  Remember that our cards are for the soldiers to select to send back home to their loved ones.  We are asked not to add much dimension, glitter, or bling.  The glitter can penetrate uniforms making the individual visible to night vision apparatus.  The dimension and/or bling can cause mailing difficulties.  For these reasons (and because it's my personal style), I have kept the cards quite simple.  If you do see some shine, it's glossy accents, stickles, or heat embossed powder, which are OK to use.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

My Guest Designer Debut!

How fun to actually see my picture and project featured on another blog!  I'm excited, proud, and humbled all at the same time.  I hope you'll pop over to Sketches in Thyme and take a look.

Here is the card I designed for Tuesday Takes #7.  I used layers of one of my favorite color combinations; pink, white, and black.  The pink Swiss Dots embossed frame is from Songbird.  The black flourish and layered flowers are from Graphically Speaking.  I used my I-rock to heat set the all the pink bling.  You'll see Divine Swirls embossed on the white mat and I also heat embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder and used foam dimensionals to make it stand out.

Thank you for visiting.  I love reading your comments.  I get so much inspiration from them and the blogs I visit.  I appreciate that you're taking this journey with me.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

My Pink Stamper Design Team Challenge

Robyn, of My Pink Stamper, is in the process of introducing her new design team.  She has two spots open and has challenged anyone with a blog and a Cricut to apply.  I figured, why not try.  Wouldn't it be amazing to be a part of such a well-known and creative design team?  So . . . her rules were these:

Pick a favorite cartridge - not so easy since I've found something special on just about every cartridge I own.
Create your design using pink, green, and brown - her favorite colors.  I happen to love pink and brown and adding a touch of green is never a problem.
Include the full recipe and reason for your creation.

Here is my card.  I used my "go-to" sketch (see August, 2010) and some of my favorite things: paper layering, heat embossing powder, foam dimensionals, and ribbon :).

 Size A2

White 5.5 x 8.5 cardstock, folded

 Pink background mat  5.25 x 4

 Brown patterned paper (BoBunny Love Bandit) 5 x 3.75 

 Pink cardstock rectangle 2 x 3

 Brown mat 2.25 x 3.25

 Green dot mat  2.5 x 3.5

Layered Heart - Sweethearts Cartridge page 34

*Brown glitter - shadow feature @ 2.5

*White cardstock - shadow feature @ 2.25

*Pink cardstock - shadow feature @ 2  then covered with Versamark and heat embossed with Ranger Holographic embossing powder

*Red cardstock - base image @ 2

Foam dimensionals between the brown glittered heart and background, and between white and pink hearts

Ribbon - Bazzill Basics

Stamps by Stampendous

  Sentiment stamped with ColorBox pigment, brown, heat embossed with Kaleidoscope embossing powder

Small heart stamped with Martha Stewart glue pad then MS fine glitter

I chose the Sweethearts cartridge for two reasons: 1) I wanted to make a Valentine card for this design team challenge, but also one that could be made in multiples to send to Cards for Soldiers.  I can not use glitter on the CFS cards, but I can use the heat embossing.  2) Sweethearts has a great deal of versatility.  Along with the expected "wedding,"  "engagement," and "love" cuts, there are many that can be used for other projects - the frog prince, the monkey, the puppy and kitten are all adorable.  There are some wonderful flourishes, flowers, a wreath and  fleur d lis, as well.  And, best of all, each cut has a companion card and envelope (easily sized on DS or the Gypsy).

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you like my design.  I stayed true to my design style - simple, clean, and lots of paper layering.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn

First Card of the New Year

Happy New Year, blogging friends!  I'm entering this card in the Sketches in Thyme Tuesday Takes #6 challenge.  I hope you get a chance to visit this blog.  There are weekly card and layout sketch challenges with some great samples provided by the "Mavens" and guest designers.  It's always fun to find a new challenge to enter :).  I might even try a layout or two since I have several albums to complete.

I used Nestabilities for all the scallop cuts.  The bow is Scrapper's Spools floss - what fun it is to use.  I think it will be super for bows tied in button holes (you probably already knew that!).  The paper is Sweet Love by Best Creations, Inc.  I really didn't have to do much because the paper itself did the work ( I LOVE when that's the case).  I just added Stickles to the heart,  popped the round scalloped circles and, of course, lots of paper layering.

Time to watch a few more Bowl games.  Have a wonderful day.  I hope you'll visit Sketches in Thyme for my debut as a guest designer on Tuesday, January 4.

Hugs and Happy Crafting,

Larelyn